Biography
Bolo began his martial arts training at the age of 10 in Guangzhou, China, where he studied under several kung fu masters. Growing up he took an interest in bodybuilding. Later he became Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He held the title for ten years. Because of his impressively muscular physique he was chosen for several bad guy roles in films produced by Shaw Brothers Studios such as The Heroic Ones, The Deadly Duo, Angry Guest and others. He left Shaw Brothers in 1971.
Bolo met Bruce Lee while the two were filming a Winston cigarettes commercial. A friendship emerged and Bruce invited him to star in Enter the Dragon, where he became known as Bolo. They were really close friends and during the filming of Enter the Dragon, Bruce and Bolo worked very closely on technique training. In fact, he once stated in an interview, many years after Lee's death, "There will never be another Bruce Lee, and I am privileged to have had the honor of calling him friend."
During the 1970s and '80s, Bolo starred in numerous kung fu films, but his breakout film was Bloodsport, based on the alleged true story of Frank Dux. Shot on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a U.S. box-office hit in the spring of 1988. Jean-Claude Van Damme had the leading role as Frank Dux and Bolo Yeung played the role of bad guy Chong Li.
Another film Double Impact featured Yeung in the bad guy role of Moon, one of the gangsters who was responsible for the parents' death. Due to a strong friendship formed between the two actors on the set of Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme wanted no one but Bolo to play the lead villain in this film.
The Canadian action film actor, director and producer Jalal Merhi met Bolo in Hong Kong while shooting his first film Fearless Tiger, then they met again on the set of Double Impact. Jalal was impressed with his personality and ability and decided to create a part with Bolo in it. Later Merhi worked with Yeung on more films such as Tiger Claws, TC 2000 and Tiger Claws 2.
In 2007 Bolo played a good guy role in Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter and Jalal Merhi directed the first 60 minutes of the film that they shot in Toronto, but he was very busy and could not travel and do the Russia shoot and the producer Erken Ialgashev had finished directing but this film is still not released because of legal issues. In fall of 2012, it was announced that Bolo is currently in negotiations to play a role in the upcoming action thriller, The Game, set to be released in 2013.
Read more about this topic: Bolo Yeung
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